Faculty

Redford B. Williams Jr., MD

Chief, Division of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Department / Division:

Psychiatry
/ Behavioral Medicine

Address:

DUMC 3926
Durham, NC 27710

Office Telephone:

919-684-3863

Fax:

919-681-8960

Training:

MD, Yale University School of Medicine (Connecticut), 1967

Residency:

Yale-New Haven Medical Center (Connecticut), 1967-1970

Fellowship:

National Institute of Mental Health (Maryland), 1970-1972

Clinical Interests:

Biofeedback and other behavioral approaches to treating or preventing physical
disorders, hostility and anger control, various pain syndromes, headache

Research Interests:

My research aims to identify psychosocial factors that are involved in the pathogenesis and course of major medical disorders, to characterize the biobehavioral mechanisms whereby such factors influence disease, and to develop both behavioral and pharmacologic means of preventing or ameliorating the adverse impact of psychosocial factors on health and disease. Specific projects that are currently active include: 1) The influence of hostile personality, social isolation and depression upon the course of coronary heart disease; 2) Biological mechanisms whereby hostility influences health; 3) Behavioral approaches to amelioration of job stress; 4) Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to reduce psychobological manifestations of stress in person with hostile personality; 5) Use of SSRIs to treat depression in patients surviving a myocardial infarction; 6) Psychobiological effects of violence in film and television; 7) Use of support groups to provide training in hostility control and stress management in managed care setting; and 8) Demographic manifestations of stress and hostility in U.S. cities.